Odisha Govt Reintroduces Bill To Exempt Land Acquisition From Social Impact Assessment

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has reintroduced the contentious Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill 2023 in the assembly.

It aims to streamline the handover of hassle-free land to a range of public infrastructure and industrial projects by doing away with the practice of holding social impact assessments (SIAs) before acquiring land for various projects, including those “vital to national security” as per the Centre’s guidelines.

In his statement, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Sudam Marndi on Tuesday said land acquisition under provisions of Centre’s Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, has been a major challenge amid attempts by the state to attract private investments in mega projects across sectors through its Make in Odisha conclaves.

He also pointed out that Telangana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand have also amended the provisions of the central Act, whose section 4 mandates the conduct of SIA before the process of land acquisition for developmental projects, and done away with public hearing.

The proposed amendment would do away with application of two chapters in the central Act – social impact assessment and bar in acquiring irrigated multi-cropped land – and exempt projects vital to national security or defence of the country, besides those for health, irrigation and drinking water, and housing for the poor, industrial projects that results in displacement of less than 100 families and acquisition of less than 500 acres of private land from SIA while allows taking over of irrigated farmland for such projects, the minister added.

The Bill was first introduced in the assembly in March and withdrawn a month later following severe criticism over its proposal to axe the mandatory provision of social impact assessment studies from its land acquisition law.

According to section 4 of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act 2013, the SIA is to be conducted by an independent agency, in consultation with affected communities and representatives of local bodies. The assessment identifies the nature and extent of likely adverse social impacts during the course of the project, estimate of affected families and those likely to be displaced and impact of land loss on livelihood, infrastructure assets and public utilities.